6/25/2014

Results: Sotheby's London Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale

On Monday evening Sotheby's held its Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale. The Sale offered 46 lots with 42 selling, for a strong 91.3% sell through rate. The sale totaled $207.9 million including buyers premiums with a sold by value at 96.2%. The pre sale estimate range was $164.5 million to $210.5 million. The top selling lot was by Claude Monet, Nymphéas, 1906, oil on canvas, selling at a very strong $54.01 million.

The NY Times reported on the sale

LONDON — One of Monet’s dreamy paintings depicting the water lily pond in his fabled garden at Giverny that failed to sell at Christie’s four years ago, caused a bidding war at Sotheby’s here on Monday night.

It was the start of London’s big summer auction season, and the salesroom was packed with dealers and collectors watching the heated action as four telephone bidders, including Kevin Ching, the chief executive of Sotheby’s Asia, tried aggressively to buy the painting. David Norman, co-chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art department worldwide, who is based in New York, won the fight, spending $54 million on behalf of an anonymous client. “Nymphéas,” from 1906, fetched the second-highest sales price ever paid for a Monet at auction, and exceeded the high estimate for the painting, which was $50 million.

It was the top price in an otherwise modest sale, with Asians and Russians bidding consistently throughout the evening. The sale totaled $207.8 million, near but not at its high estimate of $210.3 million. Of the 46 works on offer, only four went unsold.

The Monet’s failure to sell in 2010 might be attributed to its soaring estimate back then, which was $44.3 million to $59.1 million. (The seller had bought it at Christie’s 14 years earlier for $20.9 million.) This time around it was estimated at $33.6 million to $50.4 million. The record for a Monet painting sold at auction is $80.4 million, set in 2008.

Reasonable expectations can often have surprising results. Another top seller on Monday night was “Composition With Red, Blue and Grey,” a 1927 Mondrian that had not been on the market since the 1950. It had been expected to bring $21.8 million to $30.2 million, and again Mr. Norman took the winning bid, paying $25.9 million. The last comparable Mondrian at auction — “Composition With Blue, Red, Yellow and Black ” (1922) — sold at Christie’s in Paris in 2009 as part a collection belonging to Yves St. Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. That painting was bought by the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi for $29.4 million.

Sotheby’s had filled its sale with pretty Impressionist paintings, some of which brought higher prices than others. Two other Monets were being sold by the estate of Ralph C. Wilson Jr., who died in March and was the founder of the Buffalo Bills. One of them, “Antibes, Vue du Plateau Notre-Dame,” a landscape of the south coast of France that was expected to sell for $10 million to $13.4 million, was bought by a telephone bidder for $13 million. And “La Seine à L’Argenteuil” from 1875, which had been the cover image of “The New Painting: Impressionism 1874-1886,” an exhibition in 1986 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, sold to another unidentified telephone bidder for $14.5 million, in the middle of its $11.7 million to $16.8 million estimate.

After a disappointing sale at Christie’s in New York last fall, the heirs of Jan Krugier, the renowned Geneva dealer and collector who died in 2008, took their business to Sotheby’s. Several works owned by him were offered on Monday night, including Kandinsky’s “Autumn Landscape,’’ from 1911. Krugier had bought the colorful abstract canvas at Sotheby’s in 1989 for $3.9 million. Christie’s had tried to sell it in November for $20 million to $25 million, but the estimate was so high it had no takers. On Monday night it finally found a buyer for $9.4 million, above its $5.1 million to $8.4 million estimate.

The action continues at Christie’s 60-lot Impressionist and modern art sale Tuesday night.

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The Appraiser Workshops blog was developed in 2008 to publish news connected with the personal property profession and to promote the Appraiser Workshops. Content includes appraisal ideas and tips, industry news and events, market trends and updates, surveys, educational opportunities and general commentary about personal property appraising. Visit often. Comments, news, suggestions and content contributions are always welcome.

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Todd W. Sigety, is a certified member of the International Society of Appraisers and is a partner in the Appraiser Workshop, developers of the Good, Better, "Best" Appraiser Workshop. He owns two Antique galleries in Old Town Alexandria, VA where the workshop is held. He currently serves as the President on the National Board of Directors for the International Society of Appraisers. He is also the creator and editor of the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies.

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